The commercial feasibility of processes for the preparation of pharmacologically valuable compounds depends, for the most part, upon the availability and cost of the starting material or materials thereof. For example, the commercial feasibility of the process described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 949,128, filed Oct. 6, 1978, now abandoned, for the preparation of certain diuretic, uricosuric and antihypertensive 1,2-benzisoxazoloxyacetic acids and derivatives thereof depends, in part, upon the availability and cost of 2-chloro-1,3-dimethoxybenzene. See Reaction Scheme I. A process for the preparation of 2-chloro-1,3-dimethoxybenzene was disclosed by N. Schamp in Bull. Chem. Soc. Belges, 73, 35 (1964); Chem. Abs., 60, 7945h (1964) and P. Kovacic and M. E. Kurz in J. Org. Chem., 31, 2459 (1966). This process, however, involves three steps from commercially available cyclohexane-1,3-dione, namely, the chlorination of cyclohexane-1,3-dione followed by dehydrochlorination of the resulting 2,2-dichlorocyclohexane-1,3-dione to 2-chloro-1,3-dihydroxybenzene, as described by N. Schamp, and methylation thereof to 2-chloro-1,3-dimethoxybenzene, as described by P. Kovacic and M. E. Kurz, and thus would apparently furnish the desired chloro compound was difficulty and in relatively low yield, even if the individual steps proceed in relatively high yield. See Reaction Scheme II. The economics of a process for the preparation of 2-chloro-1,3-dimethoxybenzene would be substantially improved and the availability of this compound for the preparation of pharmacologically important 1,2-benzisoxazoloxyacetic acids would be materially increased if a shorter, technically simpler and more efficient method than that described in the aforementioned references were available. The present invention involves such a short, technically simple and apparently more efficient and less costly process for the preparation of 2-chloro-1,3-dimethoxy-benzene. See Reaction Scheme III.